NTD Evening News Full Broadcast (Dec. 1)

Welcome to NTD Evening News. Our top story tonight, George Santos is out. The New York lawmaker expelled after a historic vote, marking only the sixth time a member of Congress has been kicked out. This means the slim majority that Republicans hold in the House of Representatives just got slimmer. Melina Weiskopf reports from Capitol Hill. Former Justice Sandra Day O'Connor passes away. We'll dive into her legacy and the critical decisions of her time on the Supreme Court. In Georgia, former President Trump is asking a judge to dismiss the RICO case. NTD's Arlene Richards finds out what he's arguing and what the judge has to say about it. House Republicans pushing to formalize an impeachment inquiry into President Biden. How the administration is hitting back. Iris Taub at the White House. From ceasefire to firefights overnight. The war between Israel and Hamas terrorists resumes at full force. What's being done this time around to limit civilian casualties? Jason Perry brings us the latest. This is NTD Evening News. Live from our NTD Global Headquarters in New York City, here is Tiffany Meyer. Good evening and thank you for joining us tonight. A historic vote today in the House of Representatives. For the first time in 20 years, a congressman is expelled. New York Republican George Santos is the sixth in history. While the vote was successful, a large number of House members are not pleased. NTD's Melina Weiskopf reports from Capitol Hill. After two previous attempts to expel him, this effort has now met with success on a vote of 3-11 to 1-14. Republican George Santos is now a former congressman. This vote follows a House ethics report being released that accuses Santos of stealing from his campaign and his donors. We saw enough to warrant expelling him and I think this is a good day for his constituents who will now have an opportunity to elect someone new who is not a fraud. Santos left swiftly after today's vote, avoiding the massive crowd of media that was swarming around him. But the former congressman did have this to say yesterday in anticipation of today's ousting. Predetermined necessity for some members in this body to engage in this smear campaign. The Republicans haven't defended Santos against the legal challenges that he's facing which led to all of this. The 100 plus members that voted to keep him seated today, including Republican leadership, argued on a matter of principle. That a member has to be found guilty in a court of law or have fought for the Confederacy, that was the precedent, that was the standard, and that has been eroded today. But for the super majority of the House, this includes Republicans and Democrats alike, they argue that this is a matter of holding members accountable to basic ethical standards. I hope the precedent it says is that we're not going to allow a conman, criminal, liar, and person without integrity to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives. So that's a precedent? I'm happy to establish that precedent. As for what this means for Republicans' slim majority in the House, now they're down from a four-seat margin to a three-seat margin. That change could be permanent if a Democrat is able to fill Santos' seat in a special election. New York Governor Kathy Hochul says she will soon announce a specific date for the special election to fill Santos' seat for the remainder of his term. That special election will happen at some point early next year. Reporting from Capitol Hill, Melina Wisecup, NTD News. Former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor died today at age 93. The Supreme Court says she died in Arizona due to complications from dementia. O'Connor was the first woman to serve on the high court. Then-President Ronald Reagan appointed her in 1981. Before that, she was a lawyer and state senator in Arizona. During her tenure on the Supreme Court, O'Connor was known as the swing vote on hot-button social issues. She upheld abortion access and affirmative action. Her vote in the 2000 Bush v. Gore case helped ensure George W. Bush would become president. O'Connor retired from the high court in 2006. In 2018, she revealed she had Alzheimer's or some other kind of dementia. The impeachment inquiry into President Biden could soon have more bite to back up its bark. The White House firing back as House Republicans eye formalizing their authority in the probe. NTD's White House correspondent Iris Tao has more. According to GOP lawmakers leaving a closed-door meeting today, House Republicans might actually vote to formally authorize their impeachment inquiry into President Biden as soon as next week. And that move could give them more legal standing to demand more documents and information, especially as some Republicans are saying that they might have to end up going to court to enforce the subpoenas they issued to Biden family members as well as administration officials. Meanwhile, that's as House Speaker Mike Johnson saying this earlier this week. Watch. Impeachment may be the heaviest power that Congress holds. That constitutional responsibility lies with the House. We have a duty to pursue the facts where they lead. According to Republican Congressman Tom Emmer, the White House has told Republicans that it would not honor the subpoenas that were issued without a formal floor vote. Meanwhile, the White House further hit back today in a new memo, saying the House Republicans have failed to turn up any actual evidence of wrongdoing, adding that the White House has not been stonewalling Republicans' impeachment inquiry efforts. Meanwhile, some Democratic lawmakers echoing that message, with Democratic lawmaker Jamie Raskin telling NTV this today about Republicans' efforts. Watch. Alleging some shadowy, sinister family conspiracy, they have produced no evidence for it, no proof for it. The White House says the House Republicans already have access to thousands of pages of records and hours of witness testimony. Meanwhile, a formal vote to authorize the impeachment inquiry might give House Republicans more power to wrangle any remaining documents that they might seek. Back to you. Former President Trump today asking a judge to dismiss the Georgia-Rico indictment. He joins a group of defendants who all say the state doesn't have the authority to handle federal matters. But prosecutors disagree. Here's NTV's legal correspondent Arlene Richards with details. We, that is President Trump. Trump attorney Steven Sadow joins a group of defense attorneys Friday seeking to dismiss the sprawling Georgia-Rico case. District Attorney Fannie Willis didn't come. But her team of prosecutors, led by Nathan Wade, argued on behalf of the state. The defendants involved in the motion include former President Trump, David Schaefer, Robert Chilley, and Ray Smith. All of the defendants are accused of lying about the 2020 election results and conspiring to change the results through fake electors. The indictment states that they unlawfully appointed their own presidential electors. The defense argues two points. First, the state doesn't have the authority to file charges because the issues involved are federal. Second, the state could have handled its claims under the Electoral Count Act, which addresses presidential electors. Schaefer's attorney said the state missed the deadline to take action under the act and that it doesn't involve criminal charges. Prosecutors argued that defendants aren't protected by the act because they weren't legitimate electors. Then Judge Scott McAfee asked this. Just so I can set bearings, in your research of this, has an elector or someone purporting to be an elector ever been prosecuted before? I don't know, Judge. I don't know the answer to that. But you haven't found one? I have not found one. I have not found one. He said just because it hasn't happened before doesn't have much effect on their case. Previous defendants Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesbrough filed a similar motion to dismiss, but Judge McAfee rejected their arguments. They subsequently took plea deals and agreed to testify against Trump. Trump's attorney made his first in-court appearance and asked the judge to reconsider his decision in the Powell and Chesbrough motions. We, that is President Trump, is suggesting to the court that your persuasive authority in the order that you entered in the matters of Chesbrough and Powell, specifically finding that the First Amendment as applied could not be done pretrial, that Georgia precedent barred such a challenge, that you reconsider that as the authority. Instead, take a look at the case that I have cited, as well as has been cited by co-defendants counsel. The judge didn't make a decision on the dismissal request. He addressed other motions regarding the prosecution's trial date of August 5th. Sadal said he expected that Trump would be the Republican nominee for president by then. In D.C., an appellate court rejected Trump's request for immunity. Chief Judge Sri Srinivasan said Trump's actions on January 6th were not part of his official duties, and therefore the civil cases against him will stand. Arlene Richards, NTD News. Joining us now to discuss Trump's legal cases, we have Paul Kamenar, lead counsel at National Legal and Policy Center. Paul Kamenar, thank you so much for joining us. Great to have you back on the show. Thank you for having me. My pleasure. Paul, an appeals court has ruled that former President Trump does not have immunity, presidential immunity, from the civil lawsuits over January 6th. What's your reaction to this? Well, I read the opinion. It's a 67-page opinion. The opinion was actually kind of narrow. It simply said he did not have presidential immunity at this stage of the case on this motion to dismiss. What it means then, it has to go back to the district court, and then Trump will have an opportunity to develop additional facts to show whether or not his actions on January 6th were within his presidential powers, in which case he has immunity, or whether it was in his solely private capacity, which the court has hinted that, well, he was actually as a candidate, not as a government official. But then, even if he loses that part in the district court, he still has an opportunity to raise First Amendment defenses, and he still has an opportunity to raise whether or not he's liable for the injuries to these 10 Capitol police who were injured in the Capitol. Why is he responsible for those injuries? I mean, that's kind of a stretch. When you consider that the Capitol was broken into before Trump's speech was even over with. So, it's kind of a long shot, I think, to hold him liable, but this is only the first stage of the proceedings. A lot to unfold here. Now, turning now to the Georgia elections case. A judge is hearing motions to dismiss the case today. This is the first time Trump's lawyers are arguing in court since Judge Scott McAfee was assigned to oversee it. Now, Trump's lawyers are saying the indictment, quote, violates free speech. What do you make of that argument? Well, I think that's an excellent argument because it's one that I think is a good argument to make because in the Georgia case, they were arguing and indicting Trump on trying to get Raffensperger, the Secretary of State of Georgia, to look back and see if there were any votes that were unlawfully cast in favor of Biden and not cast in favor of Trump. There, the First Amendment gives him a lot of protection and also the other part of the First Amendment is the right to petition for redress of grievances. In other words, Trump had the right to petition Raffensperger by picking up the phone, calling him and asking him to look into the ballots that were cast. He had a First Amendment right to contact Mike Pence at the Capitol and say, I believe you have the authority to send this electoral count back to the states for another look-see there. And that's all asking a government official to redress what you think is a grievance. So Trump has that right just like any American citizen. So I think he has a strong case there to make in Georgia. Now, lawyers for the fake electors argue that what they were doing wasn't illegal and they were, quote, contingent electors who submitted their votes to Congress while Trump was contesting the results. Now, the Fulton County prosecutor says that argument doesn't stand because they were, quote, not presidential electors. Help us understand what this means. Yeah, I mean, that's kind of a very, you know, tricky issue and factual issue. The fact that there are contingent electors is totally lawful. In fact, that happened back in 1960, an election between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon, where Richard Nixon originally won electoral votes in Hawaii, but the Kennedy forces had alternate electors set up and then when they did the recount, they came back that Kennedy won the vote. So those electors who were basically in the wings were allowed to be counted in the Congress that January 6th. So to me, it's a similar procedure here that these were contingent electors, they weren't fake electors, and we'll see how the court decides this. It could be a close question there. On that note, how do you see this case unfolding? Well, I think that the First Amendment argument is one that I think has merit in terms of the electors that may be a tricky legal question there, but the argument that Trump's attorneys are making is that he had a First Amendment right to contact Raffensperger, the Secretary of State of Georgia, and ask him to look into this. And if he loses on that argument, it still has to then go to trial. They still have to prove he's guilty. And then, of course, he has a right to appeal that. So this case is long from being over, and Trump's attorneys are also asking the Georgia judge to postpone this to after the election because it's interfering with his campaign procedures and his activities that he's doing there. And the judges will consider that, but I don't think they were given that. Keep in mind, he's got four criminal cases pending during the campaign, which is unbelievable as it is. Definitely a lot of moving parts here. Paul Kamenart, thank you so much for your time. Thank you. Israel and Hamas terrorists failed to agree on another ceasefire extension, and it didn't take long for fighting between the two sides to resume in full force. What moves did Israeli forces make this time around to limit civilian casualties? NTD's Jason Perry has the update, and a warning this report contains footage that some viewers may find disturbing. Just hours after the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas terrorists ended on Friday morning, Israel defense forces reported striking over 200 terror targets in the Gaza Strip. Smoke was seen rising up in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip. And once again, Gaza's hospitals are filled with the injured. So why wasn't the ceasefire extended this time? This morning, after a seven-day hostage release pause, having failed to provide a list of more hostages for release, the Hamas army of terror in the Gaza Strip violated the terms of the agreed framework and launched rocket fire at Israeli communities. However, a Hamas spokesperson currently in Lebanon doesn't see it that way, blaming Israel for not wanting to extend the ceasefire agreement. Secretary of State Antony Blinken also shared his thoughts on the situation. It's also important to understand why the pause came to an end. It came to an end because of Hamas. They began firing rockets before the pause had ended, and as I said, it reneged on the commitments it made in terms of releasing certain hostages. Blinken also reiterated key points he brought up during his recent trip to Israel. I made clear that after the pause, it was imperative that Israel put in place clear protections for civilians and for sustaining humanitarian assistance going forward. And as we've seen just today, Israel's already moved out on parts of that, including sending out information, making it clear where people could be in safe areas. On Friday, Israel Defense Forces released a map showing safe zones in the Gaza Strip and also sent out messages, as seen on this Palestinian man's phone. This message says that the people in Khan Younis need to evacuate immediately and go further south to the shelters in the Rafah area. And this man wasn't so happy about it. They sent us these leaflets saying we have to go to Rafah. Where do we go in Rafah? What's there? Is Rafah safe? There's more shelling in Rafah than in Khan Younis these days. Where is the safety that they claim? People across the border in Israel shared their thoughts on the war continuing after the ceasefire. It's not a pleasant situation, but in some place I'm glad that the ceasefire was over, and because we really need to finish the work we started, because we're scared to live in our country. It's our country. I just called my friend and I said, I hope we won't get stabbed. We just came for coffee. We still have hostages in Gaza, still have babies there. We don't know what the situation is going on there. I don't see any other choice. We don't want this war, but we have to. The IDF recently reported that six Israelis who were being held captive by Hamas terrorists are now confirmed dead. The IDF says they remain committed to bringing all of the hostages home. Jason Perry, NTV News. Up next, house lawmakers are investigating Chinese information warfare. Arian Pazdar has more on what the CCP's strategies are to break the U.S. from within and what lawmakers say about countering them. American dance company Xinyuan facing major hurdles in a U.S. allied nation. Behind the sabotage campaign, the CCP's global influence. Now Washington is taking note. And California versus Florida. Governors Newsom and DeSantis debated some hot topics on Fox News. We'll hear some reactions when we come back. We'll be home for Christmas. You can plan on it. Please have snow. And mistletoe. And presents on the tree. Right now, all over the country, kids at Shriners Hospitals for Children are able to go home and be with their families for the holidays. And that's only possible because of the monthly donations from people like you. Thanks to a generous donor, every dollar you give can help twice as many kids like me and have double the impact. With your gift of just $19 a month, only 63 cents a day, we'll send you this adorable Love to the Rescue blanket as a thank you and a reminder of the care you'll be providing so kids can be with their families. Christmas Eve will find me where the love light gleams. It only takes a moment to call the number on your screen. Or you can visit loveshriners.org. Thanks to a generous donor, your gift will go twice as far and help more kids like me. Because every child just wants to be home for the holidays, and your gift makes that possible. Your call is the best gift of all. Your gift will be my favorite Christmas present this year. Thank you for giving. Please call the number on your screen or go to loveshriners.org to give whatever you can. And when you do, your gift will have two times the impact. Introducing NutriBullet RX. NutriBullet RX uses breakthrough smart extraction technology to break down and open up foods like never before, giving us the most nutritious superfood drink ever and get back to being healthy and well again. My stomach issues literally went away. My shoulder pain has gone. I was able to sleep better at night. I've lost 100 pounds. During this TV offer, you can have the complete NutriBullet RX system rushed to your home for just six payments of only $29.99. You'll also receive this amazing bonus, the NutriBullet RX Hot Soup Maker. Just place it on the base, and the NutriBullet RX switches into soup mode to make hot, delicious, nutritious soup in an instant. You can have the complete NutriBullet RX system for just six payments of only $29.99. We'll ship the NutriBullet RX system right to your door for free. That's right, free shipping. Welcome back. China is trying to break the U.S. from within. The first step the regime takes is infiltrating the minds of Americans. House lawmakers are now investigating China's strategies. NTD's Arian Passar brings you key takeaways from a congressional hearing. The Chinese Communist Party seeks total control. Perhaps most importantly, it means thought control. The House Select Committee on the CCP on Thursday night investigating China's global information warfare. Chairman Mike Gallagher quoted what Chinese leader Xi Jinping previously said about infiltrating nations by changing the way people think. The crumbling of a regime always starts in the realm of ideas. Changing the way people think is a long-term process. Once the front lines of human thought have been broken through, other defensive lines also become harder to defend. The realm of ideas, according to the document, is a smokeless battlefield. One way the CCP is infiltrating the minds of Americans is TikTok. Gallagher showed that topics the CCP disapproves of are underrepresented on TikTok compared to Instagram. It's a 12 times disparity for stand with Ukraine. It's about nine times for Uyghurs. It's about 30 times for Tibet. And it's 153 times for Tiananmen. At the same time, China is actively pushing anti-American content on TikTok. One witness said that's because the CCP's goal is to destroy the U.S. from within. It's the very existence of the United States that could inspire Chinese people. That's what they fear about most. Now, Chairman Gallagher says that the U.S. doesn't use information warfare the way China does, but that at the same time, it's important to compete against China in this smokeless battlefield of people's minds. So Gallagher says we have to find a way to fight back in that invisible battlefield without losing American values. Ariane Pastar, NTD News. As you may have seen in our recent reporting, NTD traveled to South Korea, where we uncovered a decades-long Chinese influence campaign in the U.S. allied nation. Now Washington is taking notice. Capitol Report's Steve Lance brings us the details. An influence campaign targeting an American dance troupe. Major theaters in South Korea are refusing to host Shen Yun, a New York-based performing arts company. While in Korea, we found that the Chinese embassy in Seoul has been pressuring venues and government officials alike to turn down this show. Now this decades-long interference by the CCP is getting the attention of lawmakers in Washington. Knowing or suspecting that it's linked to the Chinese Communist Party and officially through their embassy is not surprising, but it remains reprehensible, which again goes to the reason why we should all be working together to oppose the Chinese Communist Party at every single level. The Chinese Communist Party is literally afraid of free expression. The thing they fear the most is their own people's freedom. Touring hundreds of cities worldwide, Shen Yun's mission is to offer a glimpse of China before communism, presenting the American ideals of freedom of speech and freedom of belief for the world to see. I would hope it would be a wake-up call to South Korea that your economic ties are not as important as your freedom and democracy. I think they should take a strong look at the attempt to basically cancel the culture of China prior to Chairman Mao and communism. The problem is the world does need to know about what China was before the Communist Party took over, and you always choose freedom, you always choose openness. So I hope they'll resist and say, no, we have a right to allow those performances to go on, and they should go on. The Chinese Communist Party has been mobilizing its embassies worldwide in an attempt to sabotage this classical Chinese dance show. Despite the malign efforts of the CCP, Shen Yun continues to perform around the world. California versus Florida. The two governors went head-to-head last night debating everything from crime to the culture war. NTD's David Lam hears from a Florida executive and former California county supervisor for their reactions. The governors of California and Florida debated on Thursday night on Fox discussing economy, crime and public safety, abortion, immigration, and COVID lockdowns. During the hour-and-a-half debate, Newsom criticized DeSantis for LGBTQ policies and restrictions on abortion. But DeSantis defended Florida laws prohibiting sexually explicit books, criticizing Newsom for allowing inappropriate books in California schools. The two governors then sparred over their handling of the pandemic. Newsom said DeSantis locked down Florida before California, but DeSantis pushed back, saying California extended school closures for too long. DeSantis also had many props, and pointing to living standards, at one point he showed a map showing where feces were found in San Francisco. He also accused Newsom of running a shadow campaign for the presidency. Gavin's not yet a candidate for president, but at the end of the day it gave DeSantis and Gavin Newsom a platform, a national platform to talk about their visions for the country. Relocation consultant John Boyd told NTD he believes the two governors have different government philosophies and leadership style, but one has more people leaving the state. You feel it when you're in San Francisco, and you feel it when you're in California, or when you're in Los Angeles today. It doesn't feel safe. Again, that's not to say Florida doesn't have crime. Of course it does, but it's avoided this urban doom loop scenario that's plagued cities like San Francisco and Los Angeles and Chicago. Florida really has to find gravity with respect to its office market. Former San Francisco supervisor Tony Hall shared his reaction with NTD. Well, the debate last night between Newsom and DeSantis was clearly a win for DeSantis, regardless of what your political affiliation is. DeSantis won that debate. Much to my surprise, I thought Newsom would out-slick him, out-lie him, and out-talk him. Because Newsom is a very good talker. I think one of the major themes last night was the issue of crime, how crimes are not being prosecuted, how there's a permissive attitude in California for district attorneys that are not prosecuting things like open-air drug markets and retail theft. Newsom said that neither DeSantis or himself will be the nominee for their party for the 2024 presidential election. In Santa Clara, California, David Lam, NTD News. Coming up, images of children devastated by Israel's invasion, images that are fake. Deep fakes have been circulating widely in the Israel-Hamas propaganda war. A spike in pneumonia cases in Ohio and Massachusetts in children, what health officials say amid similar outbreaks happening overseas. And should we be concerned over the spike in pneumonia cases? We ask a former White House COVID advisor about that and the Texas attorney general's lawsuit against Pfizer. Stay tuned for more after the break here on NTD News. Experience art with five history. Inspired by the divine. Experience Kim Jung. Anyone who's ever sold a home will tell you it's really hard and it's one of the biggest financial decisions you'll ever make. That's why who you work with matters. Together with HomeLight, we take care of every detail. Did you know African elephants could become extinct in our lifetime? In fact, more than 90% are already gone. If we don't act now, they will disappear forever. But we can't do it alone, because when it comes to saving elephants, it's you plus IFAW, the International Fund for Animal Welfare. You plus IFAW together can help stop poaching, protect habitats, and save thousands of elephants. Call or go online right now to join ifaw.org and give $19 a month, only 63 cents a day. You can save elephants and the places they call home. Together, we can fund rangers to stop poachers in their tracks, protect the land elephants need to roam and survive, and provide loving care for those who have been orphaned so they can one day be released back into the wild. But the only way we can do this life-saving work is with you plus IFAW. So call or go online with your gift right now. With the monthly support of people just like you, elephants like Moses are alive and thriving today. It takes years of hard work from dedicated teams so orphaned elephants can learn the skills they need to survive in the wild. So please, call now or go online with your monthly gift. You can help provide the urgent care elephants need so this generation won't be the last. And when you use your credit card, you'll get this exclusive membership kit, including your very own IFAW t-shirt to show it's you plus IFAW standing together to help rescue and care for these majestic creatures. The danger for elephants is more urgent than ever before. That's why we need you. It's going to take all of us to help save elephants before they disappear forever. So please, call right away or go to joinifaw.org with your monthly gift. Because together, you plus IFAW can save lives. If you need to do something to feel okay to drive, you're not okay to drive. Don't drive buzzed. I'm Evelyn Lee in New York City, and we are NTD. Welcome back. If you're just joining us now, here are some today's top headlines. The House voted to expel New York Republican George Santos from Congress. He is the sixth person to be kicked out of Congress and the first one without being convicted. Former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor died at the age of 93. She was the first woman to serve on the nation's high court. A federal appeals court ruled that former President Trump doesn't have presidential immunity from civil lawsuits over January 6th. And in the Georgia-Rico case, Trump's team appeared in court for the first time, asking the judge to dismiss the case. Israel and Hamas resumed fighting after a seven-day ceasefire collapsed. The Israeli military is asking Gaza residents to evacuate as it expands its operations south. Devastating images of babies covered in blood surrounded by rubble, supposedly after an Israeli airstrike. But wait, does that baby have six fingers? NTD's Emma Shi looks into how AI-generated images are affecting the Israel-Hamas conflict. A Palestinian child clings to his cat after a devastating Israeli airstrike. This used to be his home, but now nothing remains but rubble. This image circulated on the web for some time before someone noticed the cat had five legs. The image was a deepfake, one of many deepfakes which have been circulating ever since the war began. The impact is enormous, right? Because a big part of this unfortunate terrorist attack, if you will, is the propaganda war. So if you have a propaganda war, but in your propaganda war not only are you manipulating the press, but you're also manipulating images. AI expert Michael Everest says humans have sight-oriented minds. People are moved by images and may take action because of them. Visual impressions can sway people from one side to another. These fake images include blood-covered babies crying in the middle of wreckage, Israeli airstrikes on civilian neighborhoods, civilians digging through concrete rubble to find their family members. While the image of the five-legged cat is relatively easy to spot, advancing AI technology will only make the images more convincing. A trained eye can perhaps find it, but it's very difficult. I mean, you can look at background, you'd have to zoom in, but for the average Joe, we're not going to be able to tell. Everest says there are tools that can detect whether an image is real or not, but the tools are imperfect. And he says most people likely won't bother using them. Emma Shi, NTD News. Two states in the U.S. have now reported outbreaks of a pneumonia among children. It appears similar to the infections in China and Europe, but health officials say there is no evidence of a connection. Massachusetts is the second state in the U.S. to report a white lung syndrome outbreak in children following Ohio. This comes as China and Europe also saw a recent spike in hospitalizations. Physicians say the pneumonia is due to a mixture of bacterial and viral infections. When looked under an X-ray, the affected lungs appear to be lighter, or whitish, hence the name. On Thursday, Ohio's Warren County Health District said so far there are 145 reported cases of pneumonia in children ages 3 to 14. No deaths have been reported as most recover at home and are treated with antibiotics. The district also said the cases are believed to be not a new virus, but one with a rather large uptick in the number of typical pediatric pneumonia cases, and that there has been zero evidence of this outbreak being connected to other outbreaks, either statewide, nationally, or internationally. The district says it's common for respiratory illnesses to spread in the community during this time of year, and that basic precautions like washing their hands and covering coughs can keep people safe. Should we be concerned about the new outbreak of pneumonia cases in China? Some lawmakers are already calling for action with flashbacks of COVID-19. Speaking of which, the vaccines are back in the spotlight, with the Texas Attorney General suing Pfizer. Joining us now to discuss public health measures new and old, we have Dr. Scott Atlas, former advisor on the White House Coronavirus Task Force and senior fellow at Stanford's Hoover Institution. Dr. Scott Atlas, thank you so much for joining us. Great to have you back on the show. Happy to be here. Now, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is suing Pfizer over the vaccine's efficacy. He's saying, quote, the facts are clear. Pfizer did not tell the truth about their COVID-19 vaccines. Now, tens of Americans, tens of millions of Americans got this vaccine. How serious of an allegation is this? I think it's extremely serious, and I think it reveals a lot of problems we've had that have undermined trust in public health, in private corporations, in all the things, because this lawsuit says a few things. It says, first of all, that they distorted information. It says that they weren't forthcoming with information about risk and the relative risk versus the actual risk. And it also says there was a false implication or even statement that it stops the spread of the infection, the vaccine, and that you are a danger to others if you don't get vaccinated. There was a lot of misstatements made. And I think the bigger issue really is not just the corporations and what they did and said. There's another issue here, which is a massive failure of the government, of the public health experts representing the people, to really make these issues come forward. Now, Doctor, speaking of truth and trust and information, one of your videos was actually censored on YouTube and removed. It was then reinstated after an appeal. What does this tell us about the state of information and censorship in our own country? I think the censorship is alive and well, unfortunately. This is something very serious, very harmful to the public good. I was invited to give a talk at the University of Colorado Boulder. I gave a presentation. Ironically, the title of it was Restoring Trust After COVID. And as soon as the video was placed up on YouTube, it was censored, blocked, and said to be misinformation. And this is, A, completely false, because it wasn't misinformation. Every single slide has the actual data and the reference on it. Secondly, everything I said is 100% correct. And third, we can't have a society function where the public does not see the information. To me, the solution to, quote, misinformation, especially in science, but in everything, is more information. There is no one that should be trusted to determine what is accurate or inaccurate. I prefer to trust the people. People are reasoning human beings. That's a definition of a human being. We can reason. We're adults here. We're a free society. We need to have the information to make the best decisions for ourselves and our families. And all of this does come as China is reporting an increase in infections, without saying exactly what those are. But we do know that hospitals are overwhelmed. Now, here in America, in Ohio and Massachusetts, we're also seeing an increase in pneumonia cases in children. But local authorities are saying these are not connected. Now, Republican senators are calling on the Biden administration to restrict travel between the U.S. and China. How serious is this? Are we seeing a second pandemic? Well, okay, A, we don't have all the information. But having said that, I think there's several things that people seem to have lost track of in the sense of reality. Every winter, hospitals are very crowded with seasonal influenza. There are certain seasons where RSV, another childhood, basically, a virus that affects young children. And so, okay, every year there are crowded hospitals with viral infections. That's not a cause for panic. We never panicked about this before. Secondly, okay, we don't know what's going on with China. But, you know, we know what's going on with our cases and from what we even hear from China. But what we see in our own hospitals is there's not a dramatic rise or anything to panic about in terms of unexpected deaths or severe illnesses here. The other point you made that somehow congressmen are demanding restrictions of travel. Listen, this was known for decades, 15 plus years before the pandemic. The standard management of viral respiratory infections concluded two things. This is in 2006. Number one, lockdowns and restrictions do not work, specifically including restrictions of air travel to stop or prevent the spread of a viral respiratory infection. And number two, they're extraordinarily harmful. Lockdowns don't work and are extremely harmful. These are things that are facts. They're not opinion. They're not arguable. We have to restore sanity in our country or we really are living in an era where facts do not matter. And that's very frightening. And speaking of facts, the WHO is saying that Beijing has responded to its request for data and that no new pathogens have been detected. How credible is the information coming out of communist China, given its history of underreporting and lack of transparency? The information coming out of China has zero credibility. To any thinking individual. I mean, I mean, this is obvious. It shouldn't even be be a subject of controversy to say that the World Health Organization has destroyed its own credibility over several pandemics. There were failures. And then Tedros, the director, as everyone knows, in 2020, praised China for its transparency, even though China was blocking access to its own data on the SARS-2 virus. Tedros said China is a model for pandemic management when they were imprisoning their own citizens with the most barbaric lockdowns imaginable. People were killing themselves. They couldn't even get their own medications. They couldn't leave their apartment. So the WHO has destroyed its own credibility. And it brings up the bigger point. It's not just that we can't trust China. We need to take hold of the WHO. The United States is the biggest funder of the World Health Organization. We have leverage here. We need to make sure that this new WHO pandemic accord that's being crafted to allocate power to the World Health Organization to declare a public health emergency in your country. That's not appropriate for any sovereign nation, particularly for a what is seemingly a very corrupt organization like the World Health Organization. We need to take hold and we need to really pause all funding of the World Health Organization and make sure that it serves its purpose. Because in theory, these international health organizations are very important and could be very helpful to the public. They have destroyed their own credibility. We need to reel that back in and have an external examination of what's going on there. Dr. Scott Atlas, thank you so much for your time. Coming up in college football, a pivotal weekend of play as the committee will finally decide who's in and who's out of the playoffs. NTD's Dave Martin joins us in the studio to discuss when we return. Anyone who's ever sold a home will tell you it's really hard. And it's one of the biggest financial decisions you'll ever make. That's why who you work with matters. Together with HomeLight, we take care of every detail. One in five children worldwide are faced with no family dinners, no special treats, no full bellies. All around the world, parents are struggling to feed their children. Toddlers are suffering from acute malnutrition, which stunts their growth. Kids are forced to drop out of school so they can help support their families. COVID, conflict, inflation and climate have ignited the worst famine in our lifetime. And we're fed up. Fed up with the fact that hunger robs children of their childhood. 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Freedom is not free. And neither is the truth. In order to bring you the facts, our reporters are out there on the front lines getting the true story. Some of them served 10 years of prison in China. We've been censored on social media. Our Hong Kong printing offices were set on fire. And we've been repeatedly attacked by the Chinese Communist Party. But no matter what, we believe that you deserve the truth. And so we continue to bring the truth to life. Head on over to GetEpic.com and try honor journalism that is based in truth and tradition. We'd love to have you on board. Adopting you was the best decision in our life. And I am so proud to call you my son. Welcome back. And now for your sports news, we welcome NTD's Dave Martin. Dave, we have one more weekend of football to go before the playoffs are finally set. Now, currently there's four undefeated teams for four spots. Does it seem like the playoff committee should have an easy time making a choice? I mean, if all four win, yeah, it should be pretty straightforward. I don't think that's going to be easy, though. They're all in conference championship games playing some tough opponents. I mean, Georgia and Washington are playing one-loss teams, Alabama and Oregon, who would probably take their places in the playoffs if they pulled the upset. And it'd hardly be an upset. Oregon is actually 10-point favorites. Florida State, I mean, no one knows what to expect with them without their star quarterback. Louisville is tough to beat either way. Now, Michigan, they are prohibitive favorites over Iowa by, like, three touchdowns. But what would be a real nightmare is if all four of them lost and then Texas won, they only have one loss, then you'd have eight one-loss teams vying for four playoff spots. I mean, how could you ever fairly decide that? So, all granted, it's not likely, but it is further proof that we needed a new system with automatic bids that we'll finally get next year. Now, looking at the Pac-12, this is the last season for this conference, at least as we know it. Is there a sense of resentment towards the schools that are leaving? You know, I am not seeing that. Maybe it's just because 10 of the 12 teams are actually leaving, so there's only two teams going to be left. But maybe there's some resentment toward USC and UCLA because their defections last year, they were, in fact, the first major dominoes to fall, and it really greatly hurt their TV product. I would actually say there's more animosity, though, in the Big 12 and the Big 10 right now. I mean, Oklahoma and Texas are leaving the Big 12, the SEC. Texas is playing in the Big 12 title tomorrow. I don't think the rest of the conference wants them to go out as champions. Now, it might even be more so in the Big 10 with Michigan's alleged sign-stealing scandal. I mean, reportedly the rest of the league met with the commissioner, urging him to discipline Michigan and Jim Harbaugh for their part in that. He did. They got a three-game suspension. They won all three games anyway. So I think it's safe to say the rest of the league will be pulling for Iowa on that one. Shifting now to tennis, Rafael Nadal has announced he'll return from hip injury next January, which will mark a year since he last played. What are the expectations for him? Well, you know, he's had significant injuries before, and somehow he's always able to bounce back at the top of his game. Of course, now he's 37, which until Roger Federer's run a couple years ago was considered pretty old for tennis. Now, he does seem to be tempering expectations a bit by saying 2024 will probably be his final season. Now, he's returning to the Brisbane International in January of next month, which is essentially a warm-up for the Australian later that month. Now, that has historically not been his best tournament, though he's won it twice. I think we'll know more come May when the French Open begins. That tournament he's dominated, I mean, he's won it a record 14 times now. Now, Dave, looking at baseball's free agency, it's been nearly a month now, and Shohei Otani has yet to sign. What's up with this slow pace? I mean, well, to be honest, this is actually kind of on par for baseball's offseason. It's always slow. I think this year it feels slow more because of all the attention and anticipation around Otani, you know? There's never been a player who's both an all-star as a pitcher and a hitter. Maybe since Babe Ruth like 100 years ago, there was no free agency, though, in his day. Any signing is going to be complicated, though, by his injury history. He's going to miss next year as a pitcher. That'll be the second time that happens. Whoever's going to sign him, they're really going to have to do their homework on his medicals, and they're going to have to be creative on how they structure this contract. I mean, what if he doesn't come back as the same pitcher in 2025 or really even ever again? I think most expect he's going to get a record deal. We just don't know when that'll be. A lot to look for here. Dave, as always, thanks for joining us. Thanks, Tiff. And that's all for today's news. Thanks for tuning in. I'm Tiffany Meyer. Good night.